There is no secret the Oklahoma City Thunder have their backs against the wall down 3-1 to the Miami Heat. They have competed every step of the way, but find it very difficult to stop LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and company. Do I think it’s over?? No I don’t, there are things that the Oklahoma City Thunder can do to change things up and make it difficult on the Heat and I will discuss them right now. Some of the items may be out of the box, but most are simple changes.

Take Russell Westbrook off the Ball Westbrook isn’t a point guard today, he wasn’t one yesterday, and may never be one and that’s ok. Westbrook is a dynamic athlete that can score points by using his strength and athletic abilities to create opportunities. He shouldn’t have the ball in his hands because it takes the flow out of the offense and leaves the Thunder with a lot of under 10 second decisions to be made. Kevin Durant is the best scorer in this series and needs the ball in his hands. Having a score first guard dominate the ball and then try to get into something is very hard even for them. The best playmaker in the roster is James Harden. I know he’s a shooting guard and has a great flow coming off of the bench, but you need someone that can make plays for others running the point. If Eric Maynor was healthy I would say put him on the ball and keep Harden off the bench, but with Maynor out, Harden would do a very good job getting the ball to both Westbrook and Durant as well as being an extra scorer in the game. What about Sefolosha you ask? Keep him in the starting lineup and go small with Durant at the 4 and Serge Ibaka in the starting lineup. Having Westbrook at the point has its advantages as far as a guy who can change the game, but he shoots them out of games too much especially in the half court variety.

Change the lineup Go small, with Harden, Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka. Miami has made a living going small on them all series and this is where it needs to go. Take advantage of their young legs, fire power and ability to switch on almost every pick and roll combination. Perkins doesn’t fit for this matchup. If you are facing Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, or Roy Hibbert that is one thing, but you are facing a light center in Bosh. Serge Ibaka is one of the best defenders in the league and constantly protects the rim with his shot blocking and mobility. By starting two big men they are slow and bulky. Offensively Perkins doesn’t give you any advantages besides for deep post touches and his lack of athletic ability makes it tough for him to consistently finish and be a factor. A smaller more hybrid lineup will make them faster, allow them to matchup better with Miami’s smaller lineup, and give them more fire power. With Harden starting at point guard it takes scoring from their bench, but they are young and can handle the overload of minutes. Their backs are against the wall. Nick Collison needs to come off the bench and they need to bury Perkins, again it’s not anything against Perkins personally just a bad match up for him. This will also enable them to play Daequan Cook more coming off of the bench. Cook can spread the floor with his shot making ability. He’s been buried n this series but can provide a spark off the bench as well as Derek Fisher. Fisher can provide backup minutes at the point and then you can put Harden back at the shooting guard spot, take Westbrook out and then go back to Westbrook at the point guard spot for limited minutes. A lineup shake up will be the big key in changing this series.

Change the way you use Kevin Durant on Offense Right now he’s primarily getting used in isolations and post ups. This makes it easy for LeBron James and the Heat to load up and guard him. Run him off multiple screens and force LeBron to move on defense to tire out. If they over play Durant on pin downs then they can roll their big men like the Bulls do with Kyle Korver or how the Celtics use Ray Allen. Kevin Durant isn’t a great isolation player. He’s a shot-maker with the ability to go off of the dribble. You need to force LeBron to work on defense as well as the Heat. You can just give Durant the ball 30 feet and expect him to perform consistently against this Heat defense and one of the most dynamic athletes ever to play pro sports in LeBron. Take Durant off of the ball and run plays away from him and then send him into it late to force Miami to over rotate. This scheme will work well and open up opportunities to manufacture points in other ways.

Utilize their big men I know that none of the Thunder big men are scorers on the block and that’s fine. But they need to have more of a roll in the Thunder offense. Put them in pick and rolls and have them roll to the rim. Run dribble hand offs and roll them off of them this way it forces Heat defenders to have to rotate off their men on the weak side as well as strong side to bump their big men. They need to score more than 20 points in every game to put pressure on the Heat defense. It can’t just come from isolations on the wing, transition, and jump shots. Again, it is understood that the only way they can score right now is Ibaka jumpers, Collison energy, and Perkins putbacks/deep post touches. But no one will really respect them and foul to send them to the line. This will increase their easy points as well as force the Heat to foul early putting them in the bonus at 7 minute marks or so in the quarter giving them the opportunity to go to the free throw line.

Play more zone You are playing a team with limited shot making that have two players that can slash your defense to pieces on penetration in James and Wade. Force them to pass the ball and close the driving lanes. This will take away dribble penetration and force them to take perimeter jumpers. We all know what happened in game 1 when James and Wade tried to take a majority of long jump shots. Playing man to man opens up driving lanes even when they shrink the floor. I would sit back in an active zone and make them shoot tough jump shots.

I still think the Thunder have a chance, but they will need to change their game a little bit and come up with something that catches the Heat off guard. It is an uphill battle for sure. None of what I wrote today is anything against Coach Scott Brooks ort his staff in any way. As a coach you have observations and wanted to share them with my viewers and other basketball people. Please email me at info@hoopconsultants.com or tweet us at @hoopconsultants with your thoughts on this post.

The Miami Heat trying to silence their critics are one step closer to winning the franchise’s second NBA Championship with a 104-98 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night in Miami. This game was a hard war faught by both teams.

This game was a tale of two halves for both teams. The Thunder jumped out to an early 13-3 lead in the first quarter. It was something that Miami was used to doing to OKC in the first 3 games, but the Thunder gave them a taste of their own medicine. The reason for the early thrashing was simple as the Heat reverted back to what got them in trouble in game one. There were too many isolations and bad decisions on shot selection which led to the early onslaught by the Thunder. Russell Westbrook was in attack mode from the opening tip scoring 10 of his game high 43 points in the first quarter. The Thunder were attacking the Heat defense and forcing them to rotate opening up high percentage opportunities to score. The one bright spot in the first quarter for Miami was the spark plug they received off the bench from rookie Norris Cole scored 5 of his 8 points in the first keeping the Thunder on a couple of occasions from opening up the lead, cut the deficit to 14 on a 3 point shot assisted from LeBron James 33-19 after the first.

The Thunder started the second quarter settling for long jumpers that led to Miami scoring in transition. Back to back long jumper attempts by James Harden and Kevin Durant led to easy scores within the paint area for Miami. The Heat went on a tear scoring 16 straight points by attacking the Thunder defenders. LeBron James had his DNA on most of the run attacking the basket, posting up, making a 3, and assisting on four of the Heat baskets throughout the run. From what I noticed, whenever LeBron James attacked the basket he got great looks and finishing opportunities at the rim area, especially in the post. What made him so powerful in the paint was not only his ability to score on the block but also suck defenders in on help on him and then pass out to open shooters. With the run the Heat cut the deficit from 17 points to 1, 33-32. The momentum was clearly shifting to Miami, but Russell Westbrook would not go down without a fight scoring 8 in the quarter finishing with 18 points in the half 49-46. LeBron James had 8 of his 26 in the first half for Miami. Mario Chalmers provided a big surge in offense for the Heat, scoring 25 points for the home team.

The Thunder’s bread and butter throughout the series was to set good screens and move the ball. They got a lot done on penetrating and getting to the rim or moving the ball on multiple passes. The Thunder settled for a lot of isolation and 1-on-1 scoring opportunities. This usually works for OKC, but James Harden continued to struggle scoring only 8 points on 2-10 shooting. On the other side, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both gave great efforts for the Heat attacking the paint and made big plays all night for the Heat. LeBron James was easily the best player on the floor even though Westbrook lit up the box score for 43 points. James had 26 points 9 rebounds and 12 assists for the Heat. He simply dominated the game with not only his ability to score in the paint when he wanted on drives and post ups, but also made great passes to open teammates for scores. He also suffered severe cramping in his leg leading to his substitution in the fourth.

Oklahoma could never get into the flow of the game. They made a lot of mistakes down the stretch. Russell Westbrook even though had a great scoring night had a very Mellon collie performance. On one hand he kept the Thunder in the game most of the night generating offense when Harden struggled, but on the other he took 32 shots and on a lot of occasions couldn’t get Durant the ball in down the stretch. Miami stayed in the game all night when they finally went ahead 97-94 on a LeBron James three point make to take the lead 97-94 with 2:54 to go. Dwyane Wade had 25 in a winning effort for the Heat.

The big story for the Heat was the play of starting point guard Mario Chalmers. He opened up the floor for Miami as he made 3-three point shots as well as making many big drives for the Heat. He really stepped up in this victory giving the Eastern Conference Champions a secure 3-1 series lead over the Thunder with his 25 point effort.

NOTES:

Thunder Need A Boost In Offense. OKC doesn’t need more scoring as they are finding points, but the way in which they score is the problem. So much is done from isolation scoring and deep shots. The transition game was better tonight as the Thunder generated 17 points on the break. The inability to score on the block in my opinion is a heartbreaker for OKC. You don’t need to have a dominant scoring threat on the block to win a championship ask the six time champion Chicago Bulls in the 90’s. But, it takes so much pressure off of your half court offense when you can throw the ball down low and get it out of your perimeter player’s hands. It also opens up the floor and gives you the ability to space the floor to get some solid scoring opportunities. It also increases your chances of getting to the free throw line and opens up offensive rebounding. The three Thunder big men combined for 14 points almost half of those points coming from jump shots. They also need to do a better job setting screens not only on screen and rolls, but also pin downs for wing players. By screening well it can open up scoring opportunities not only for wing players but the big men setting the screens. Their offense can flow a lot better if they start setting solid screens

Bosh Needs Touches On The Block Chris Bosh has taken a lot of criticism for being soft. Some of that is his own fault as he likes to settle for jumpers and step back jumpers on occasion. As we’ve seen good things happen when the ball is thrown to him in the post. Most importantly, it takes the ball out of Dwyane Wade and LeBron’s hands and allows him to go to work. By him being on the block instead of 20 feet from the basket, it not only increases his chances of scoring but also opens up offensive rebounding opportunities for the Heat. If OKC tries to double on the post he can always kick the ball out to open shooters spaced around the three point line. It’s just another avenue to manufacture offense from. It isn’t something they have to force feed, but can do in the flow of the offense. LeBron did a great job scoring on the block and in the paint scoring 16 points close to the basket tonight.

Westbrook’s Criticism Is A Little Too Much I wanted to write a whole story on this, but chose not to because there have been so many of them out there. My take on Westbrook is that he is not a point guard. He doesn’t make point guard plays, doesn’t consistently find his best player easy shots, and is a scorer. I don’t mind that he’s not a point guard because he has a skill to get him in a game. His ability to take a game over with his offense is remarkable. He reminds me a lot of Dwyane Wade in 2005. He’s a two guard that needs the ball in his hands to score points. He can make plays for others but not consistently. He’s better served off the ball and running pick and roll to him as well as isolation, and coming off screens. This team so used to him shooting the ball as he averaged nearly 20 shots a game all season. This team needs him to score points to be successful. He’s never going to be John Stockton and that is ok. He has a skill and he’s very good at it. Just keep in mind he will on many occasions shoot you out of a game just as much as he can shoot you into it. They have to find a way at points in the game to get the ball out of his hands and maybe run James Harden at point guard a little bit to keep their firepower as well as add a passer on the ball.

Durant Needs To Get Mean Mr nice guy is great for his image and it makes him easy to deal with and coach, but Durant needs to get a little angry. I don’t think its fair just to criticize Westbrook for not getting him the ball, I think he needs to demand it. This is his team, yes Westbrook helped him get here, but Durant must demand the basketball and find a way to get it. Shane Battier and James did a great job guarding him late in the game, but he needs to find opportunities. If he cant get the ball on the wing then post up or set a 1-3 screen and roll to free himself up. Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant are ice water veins players which meant when it was crunch time they made no excuses as they were not going to sit as a spectator as they were going to find ways to get the ball and go on runs of 8,10,12,14 straight points. Kevin needs to show emotion and anger and take over games, especially early to get his teams going and most importantly late in the game to close. He’s the best scorer in the finals and best shot maker we need to see that.

Adversity teaches us a lot about life. How strong we are, who our real allies really are, and who among us are strong and who are weak. At some point in all of our lives we face some type of adversity. It could be a death of a loved one/provider, loss of a job, or other major changes in our lives. In most cases we don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the loss as we need to go on with our lives to pick up the slack of what we lost. It is tough and in most cases puts us out of our comfort zones, but we need to step up and at the end of the day get the job done. When we are in a cocoon and everything goes smoothly we never learn much about ourselves. Anyone can come through when it’s smooth sailing, but what happens when something goes wrong?

The Chicago Bulls were dealt a major blow Saturday with the loss of Derrick Rose to a season ending knee injury. With 1:10 left in the fourth quarter all of the oxygen was sucked out of The United Center when he went tumbling to the ground grimacing in pain. The reigning MVP has meant so much to the revitalization of the Chicago Bulls to championship contenders after almost a decade of mediocrity of a once proud franchise.

Life is funny sometimes one minute you are up and in an instant you can be dealt a terrible blow. The Bulls are owners of the NBA’s top record as well as the league’s most suffocating defense led by one of the league’s top coaches in Tom Thibodeau. What inspired me to write this article is how everyone jumped off Chicago’s bandwagon in an instant. The same people who were praising this team were giving them a death sentence in an instant. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t stay loyal when the chips are down. Loyalty has always been something that I take very seriously and to see so many people lose their support to the Bulls is troubling to me. Like I mentioned before they love you when you are on top forget about you on the way down. Adversity shows it’s ugly head once again and as usual the weak minded run for the hills.

A few things people are forgetting here is the Bulls are used to playing without Derrick Rose this year boasting an 18-9 without him, 7 wins coming against playoff teams including Miami, Celtics twice, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Orlando. They have one of the league’s best frontcourts having the combination of block scoring in Boozer and energetic defensive minded players in Noah,Asic, and Gibson. Tom Thibodeau is the NBA’s most prepared coach being known as one of the top defensive coaches to come down the pike in a long time and a basketball savant. Defensively, they lead the league in defense letting up only 88.2 points per game which says a lot of the culture Thibodeau has created for the Bulls.

I can mention statistics all I want, but this is a question of people stepping up. The Bulls have all the tools to make it to the NBA finals. They have no time to feel sorry for themselves as they are professionals and this is what they do for a living. Isn’t the NBA the land of opportunity for average players to step up and become heroes while stepping up when needed? Yes without Rose this lets a lot of air out of their championship balloon, but doesn’t automatically eliminate them from contention. When you have a basketball culture where all players and staff are on the same page you always have a chance to win. This should be a teaching point to all teams as building a basketball culture is more important than having talent. Building a culture is something that needs to be instilled before anything else in your program. Establishing boundaries on and off the court and having every one of your players buy into this is your foundation. With their record without Rose this shows that everyone understands their roles and step up to make up for the missing points and presence that he has.

Without Rose the Bulls are the only team in the playoffs without a clear cut number one scoring option. They remind me of another team that didn’t have a true go to guy. The 2003-2004 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons had the same make up of this Bulls team. They had a group that didn’t posses great scoring or that one stud offensively. They featured a group that played as a unit, totally smothered teams on the defensive end allowing only 84.3 points per game. Their roster reminds me a lot of this Bulls team as they play together and share the basketball. Like Thibodeau, Larry Brown had his team believing in defense and establishing their roles and held them accountable. There was no star on that team either, just 15 players that played as a unit and checked their egos at the door.

There is too much quitting that is in our culture these days. Young people think that their only option is to quit when adversity hits. Learning how to deal with it is a major teaching point to life’s lessons. Not everything is going to be easy and given to them and life gets hard at times. In basketball or any sport you can’t train a team to lean on one player to the point where if you take them out of the lineup that the team sinks. A coach needs to empower the team to know that they are capable of doing big things when given an opportunity to do so. Establishing roles is the key to building a great team and keeping everyone inside of those roles can be the hardest thing for a coach. We will learn a lot about the heart of the Bulls in the coming weeks. As the basketball world sells all of it’s stock in the Bulls it will be interesting to see how they respond to this challenge.

If this year has taught us anything it taught us that players, when given the opportunity to shine they rise to the occasion. Last year it was JJ Barea shocking the basketball world taking over games being one of the smallest players in the NBA. This year Jeremy Lin took the basketball world by storm by starting the year being a bench player to carrying an NBA franchise on his back. Barea and Lin didn’t listen to the people who doubted their ability. Last year the Dallas Mavericks had limited supporters who thought they had a chance at getting out of the second round never mind being an NBA champion. You can’t measure a team’s heart and unity by looking at statistics alone. When there is a culture installed and everyone from top to bottom buys into it any goal can be attained. There is nothing stopping CJ Watson to step up as a hero or John Lucas to be that firecracker the Bulls need to be successful.

Adversity shows us a lot about character. For the Chicago Bulls it will show us how they step up when their leader is lost. I have a feeling that for those who sold their stock in them when they were down will be wishing that hadn’t.

Casting labels on anyone is an act for the simple-minded. How many times have you heard growing up that you should never judge a book by its cover. People in society are too judgmental by observations made without spending time to form the right opinion. In my 18 years involved with coaching and working in basketball there are many labels cast upon people in in the profession. I’ve had many discussions with both sides of the argument and take their thoughts into consideration. The thoughts that I will share are not everyone’s views, but a big chunk of the people that I come in contact with to get information about this post. At the end I will give you my thoughts on the subject.

One label in particular I wanted to discuss today and that’s the label of did a coach/scout play or didn’t he play. This is a topic that I hear a lot used from players and coaches a lot. For most you are on one side or the other, there are very few that are in the middle. The school of thought is if you didn’t play at a high level how can you possible command respect of a team, make a player better, or evaluate who can play unless you played the game. Many people I speak with are for the most part biased on whichever side they are on.

When you speak to the some players or people who work in basketball that are players they will tell you that in order to be able to communicate or instruct a player that you would have had to have gone through it yourself. When I speak to some players about this they right away would tell me what can a coach that has never played the game going to tell me? Some coaches that have playing experience tell me that because the have played they can get through to players more than someone who hasn’t played the game. The label that non-players have is that all they do is watch film and have no way of relating to players and they are wannabes that want to throw themselves into the world of basketball. They get ideas and philosophies from books and other things, but since they haven’t ever been on the court to do them themselves that it won’t relate to the game. Their argument is that they spent years in the trenches going through things that players go through as far as highs and lows, injuries, off the court life, etc. Because they’ve gone through these things that only players can communicate to other players because they fought the wars already and went through what players now are going through.

On the other side of the equation to the people that don’t have playing backgrounds they role their eyes in disgust about it. They feel as though players feel entitled to positions in basketball because of the fact that they have played and haven’t earned their keep. Most non players in pro basketball had to work their way up from interns and video people to get a crack at being in basketball. Their days usually start in the neighborhood of 6AM and usually leave the office at about 10PM. Hard work is mostly what they know as they understand to make it in basketball with no playing background they’ll have to work extra hard not only to impress the powers at be, but also to learn their craft. When you talk about the subject of people in basketball that played they feel as though hard work escapes them and since they never did the grind of 90 hour work weeks that it’s hard for them to relate what they’ve gone through to make it in basketball. Many feel that players think they can show up and just know how to teach or evaluate just because they played.

There are a majority of people employed by NBA teams that were ex players. The league as a whole is behind the hiring of them to give back to the people who made the NBA what it is today. I think it’s important to have a strong presence of ex players employed in the league because they do have a certain understanding of how the league works from a player’s point of view. I don’t think that you should hire every ex player that seeks employment as just because they were good players doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to teach a player how to be successful. Teams are understanding as well the “grinders” in the world of basketball that are the film breakdown guys, basketball savants, and number crunchers. These people are very important to the success of the game as well because every team is in search for the edge. Some of those “grinders” such as Sam Presti(GMOklahoma City Thunder), Jeff Van Gundy(Ex Head Coach Knicks/Rockets),Tom Thibodeau(Head Coach Chicago Bulls),Daryl Morey(GM Houston Rockets , and Eric Spoelstra(Head Coach Miami Heat) all have little to no significant playing background but all have had success in their respective fields in the NBA.

I stick to the opinion that people who have prejudice against people who have played and not played are weak minded as a whole. It’s easy to judge and criticize from afar, but until you spend time with that person its impossible to know what makes that person tick and how good/bad they are at their jobs. Just like anything else there are people that are good and bad in the profession of basketball, but to judge them by how they are at their job based if they can play or not is insane. People want to criticize Michal Jordan for his lack of success in Charlotte and his spending habits when it comes to players. A lot of people want to express their feelings that because Michael was a star player that he doesn’t work hard enough at his craft. My answer to that is unless you walk a mile in his shoes and have to spend the money that he does in a small market then its harsh to judge him personally. If you want to criticize the team record wise you have every right to do so, but him being a former player has nothing to do with it. You can actually make the argument that he put them in a position to compete in a couple of years since they have a great chance of getting Anthony Davis in the upcoming draft and have almost 30 million dollars in cap room two years from now.

In this discussion I have a lot of experience dealing with the prejudice of not being a player. To me it’s not a very big deal as like anything else it’s a necessary evil in my profession. I’ve heard it from players, coaches, team executives, and many other people. There’s no way to control how a person thinks, but you can impress them with work ethic and knowledge. Those two things I have used to win over 200+ NBA players that I have worked with as well as a future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant serving as his personal basketball consultant. I’ve asked several players that if it mattered that a coach that works with them played or not and most said no. The things that players look at most is if the coach knows what they are talking about and if they are reliable. They’ve told me that as long as a coach can get them better, they really have no issues with them and if that’s a former player or not so be it. What makes me good at what I do is when players question me or I make a correction they can look in my eyes and know that it’s for the better. Players are like sharks and can smell blood in the water if you are unprepared they will know it. For the most part when players step on the court with me I’ve already watched 4-6 hours of tape on them and know how they are used on their teams as well as their strengths and weaknesses. My playing background has nothing to do with me being prepared to make a player better, I feel that is total nonsense and have no time for it.

If you want to waste time making excuses for not making it in the game of basketball or anything in life because of a certain bias or prejudice no one is stopping you. What you need to be doing is developing value so it doesn’t matter what background you come from that people will want to reach out and hire you. As a scout it doesn’t matter much if you ‘ve never played at a high level, what you need to do is study the physical, skill, and stat requirements of what makes an NBA player. Everyone will make mistakes, you just have to learn from the people who know more than you do. Your playing career or lack there of has nothing to do with your evaluation skills. In the case of Presti, Morey, Van Gundy, Van Gundy, Thibodeau, and Spoelstra they had traits that their respected organizations deemed as valuable to make them successful so they sought them out. Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson, Mitch Kupchak, and Patt Riley are considered the tops in their profession and all had playing backgrounds. Like anything else there are people that are good at what they do and people who aren’t good at what they do. People need to be judged individually, not generalized based on perception. I tend to give everyone a fair chance to impress me as they disserve it. Not everyone is like that but I can only control myself and leave the generalizing to the weak minded.

This camp is a specialized camp for college players only. The camp will break players up by position and work on position specific skill work. With the NCAA limiting the time college players can spend with their coaches this is the perfect opportunity to get four days of quality instruction from coaches who work with NBA, Top European, and high-level collegiate players for a living. Each session will be geared towards improving each camper’s skill level as well as basketball iq. Each player will be given a written assessment as well as a DVD containing film breakdown of some of the world’s top players that play their same position. This is one of the only camps in the country that specializes in working with college players.

LEAD INSTRUCTOR:

MIKE PROCOPIO

Mike Has worked with over 175 NBA players. Some of the game’s greats have stepped on the court to work with him. He has run all the basketball workouts for Tim Grover and ATTACK Athletics in Chicago,IL. Some of the players that Mike has worked with include: